Mariners Game 7 Recap: JASO FREED! MARINERS WIN!

I may have complained about this in the past couple of days a few dozen times, but I had to move last weekend out of nowhere. It wasn’t that I got evicted, or anything crazy like that. Rather, my girlfriend and I live in a building in downtownish Tacoma that is about 100 years old. One of the pitfalls of a 100 year old building is that they have a variety of maintenance issues that new buildings don’t have. We had an emergency maintenance issue that forced us to move six floors down. The reason I bring this up is because I’ve been stealing my new neighbor’s internet for this whole week because of the wonders of having your internet company also be a public utility. It’s the company that comes with the building. There is no wiggle room. Anyone who has had that company knows who I am talking about.

I think my neighbors figured that out today (sorry) and have somehow disallowed me from using their internet. Now I’m sitting on an end table in my old, basically empty apartment, using my internet while I write on a slightly taller end table. I had to go up seven floors, away from my TV and real furniture and shit, and now I’m sitting on a fucking end table in my old bedroom rambling on about a bunch of shit that isn’t baseball.

JOHN JASO GOT FREED!

The same way all those guys that thought that Blake Beavan was the next Doug Fister felt yesterday, or the guys who thought that Jesus Montero should be playing catcher every day felt today when Montero didn’t throw up on himself behind the plate felt today, that’s how I feel about John Jaso. I loved the Jaso trade. I know not everyone loved the Jaso trade because at the time everyone seemed to think that the Mariners needed to sign a first baseman with a BMI that puts him at basically dead already. But Jaso is a good hitter. He’s a good hitter who has been unlucky. Jaso hit well today. He may end up being the best defensive catcher on the roster too.

Today Jaso got the game winning RBI on a single up the middle in the 9th inning. That followed a triple he hit down the right field line earlier in the game.

Let’s talk about Jesus Montero behind the plate. Early on we saw him block a ball and Twitter blew up with people talking trash about Miguel Olivo. Miguel Olivo is a bad catcher, so Jesus Montero being even slightly better than Olivo is still probably bad. Montero figures to be a better hitter, and I recognize the value in having a great bat behind the plate, but wasn’t the ball that Montero took off the thumb later in the game reason enough to just keep the kid out from behind the plate? Just let him hit. Or make him play third base. Or maybe he plays first base in the future. No reason to waste his bat on an injury.

Justin Smoak continues to surge after struggling early on. He had another two hits today, including a double that he hit down the right field line, and a ball he hit hard. Those are the kinds of hits that play in Safeco Field too. Good for Justin Smoak. I don’t have some false delusion that he’s the next Mark Teixeira, but he still could become a very good hitter.

And how about Kyle Seager. Sean Kramer and I used to live with a guy who looked like a much taller version of Kyle Seager that was in much worse shape. I realized that today, and believe it or not that wasn’t the biggest Kyle Seager news of the day. Seager hit another double, this time in the ninth, and Munenori Kawasaki ran in his place and scored the game tying run.

At the beginning of the season it seemed likely that when Franklin Gutierrez and Mike Carp were healthy again that Chone Figgins would move back to third base, and Seager and Michael Saunders would end up in Tacoma. Well Seager and Saunders are clinging to third base and center field like the alternative is to take a ride with a guy with a mustache and a van with tinted windows (and I don’t mean the 2011 version of Eric Wedge). Chone Figgins is hanging on pretty tight himself.

Here’s something kind of crazy:

Figgins: .310/.355/.414

Seager: .333/.360/.417

Saunders: .261/.346/.522

I bagged Saunders pretty hard after his strikeout. He swung at a 3-2 slider that began low and in, and ended up way lower and way more in. It looked like Carlos Peguero if Carlos Peguero didn’t presently look like a guy who has a knee injury. Then Saunders came through in the ninth, and it was all absolved. Fuck it. Michael Saunders. How do you say Linsanity in Canadian?

And Kevin Millwood. Remember when both Ken Griffeys play in Seattle? And then they hit homeruns back to back. Well Kevin Millwood and Blake Beavan aren’t father and son. In fact, I’m not sure that it’d even be biologically possible that they were father and son, but in terms of baseball lineage Kevin Millwood and Blake Beavan may as well be related. And in their own MillwoodyBeavanyJunior way, they put up back to back homeruns. Holding the Rangers to one run in any amount of innings is hard to do. Especially in Arlington. Bravo to Millwood and Beavan, you’ve set the rest of your season up to be an enormous disappointment.

The Mariners won today. They’re above .500. The last inning of that game was really fun to watch, especially as the prior 20-something were making the season look like it was headed back into the 2011 direction. Ew.

Tomorrow is Vargas vs. Holland. Hopefully that means Casper Wells and Alex Liddi get to play baseball tomorrow, because Derek Holland is left-handed, and Casper Wells and Alex Liddi like to play baseball.

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Casey McLain

I arranged for you to get your wish, Liddi at 3B batting in the 2 hole and Wells in LF and hitting in the 8 spot. I agree with your premise that Noesi was squeezed. I think they have a shot tonight at splitting the series with Texas and coming home in first place in the division Worst case scenario they get back playing .500 ball, which is about the height my ambitions for this season.